“If I remember right, Teacher Ling Ling, you seem to really like drinking. I’ll make time to have a drink with you… but only beer, okay?”

Ling Ling liked to drink, but she hadn’t found a drinking buddy in Z City. She couldn’t exactly go drinking with the male teachers—if she got drunk, things could get dangerous.

Honestly.

For some people, teaching really is just a way to make a living. Forget professional ethics—they might not even have basic decency.

So.

As soon as Ling Ling heard Lin Zishen’s suggestion, she perked right up, looking as if a spring breeze had swept through overnight. She exclaimed in delight, “You’re really willing to have a drink with me!?”

“Yeah…”

“Then… how about after evening study tonight!?”

Lin Zishen looked surprised. He opened his mouth wide and said, “Huh… that soon?”

Ling Ling shot back, “Mmm~ Why wait when you can act on a whim? What’s wrong with doing it today?”

“But it’s not Friday. I still have evening study. Besides, one of us is a teacher and the other a student. Where can we drink on campus?”

“So what if it’s a school night? So what if you have evening study? It ends at 9:10, and the dorms don’t lock up until 10:45. That gives us almost two hours… As for where, just come to the teachers’ dorm.”

After Teacher Ai Guo had just given him a face-riding crash course in sex, Lin Zishen wasn’t as innocent as he’d been in his first year of high school. He no longer aspired to a purely Platonic romance. He had physical desires, too.

And so.

When he heard Teacher Ling Ling’s suggestion, he didn’t quite know what to do.

Don’t get the wrong idea—he definitely wasn’t worried that Teacher Ling Ling would lure him into her dorm and do something weird to him. In his eyes, she was actually rather innocent… so he figured she simply hadn’t thought things through and hadn’t considered the complications between men and women. On the other hand, he was also worried he might do something wrong.

After all.

Ever since Ai Guo had straddled his neck, he’d been having dreams a lot lately.

While Lin Zishen was thinking all sorts of strange thoughts, Ling Ling had already run out of patience. She turned around, waved a hand, and said, “I’ll order takeout around eight-thirty. Remember to come over as soon as evening study ends…”

Then.

She seemed to think of something else. Turning around, she walked over to Lin Zishen and looked around until she finally spotted a fairly thick branch on the ground.

She glared at him and said, “Lin Zishen, your teacher hates it when people stand her up. Watch closely. If you don’t show, you’ll end up just like this branch…”

As she spoke, Ling Ling kept trying to snap the branch, but she wasn’t strong enough to break it. She looked so awkward, and yet there was something girlishly lively about her.

Lin Zishen burst out laughing at her antics. Still laughing, he reached out and said, “Teacher, let me help…”

Ling Ling was a beat slow. Her first reaction was actually to hand him the branch. But as soon as she put it in his hand and looked up at his grinning face, her cheeks flushed red. She tossed the branch hard onto the ground and said, “Ugh! Anyway, I’ve warned you. If you stand me up, there’ll be serious consequences!”

After saying that, Ling Ling walked away.

Still smiling, Lin Zishen watched Teacher Ling Ling’s figure grow smaller and smaller. When she had completely disappeared into the glow of the setting sun, he quietly rubbed his own head.

With a faint smile, he murmured, “So this is what it feels like to be doted on.”

Sometimes, Lin Zishen really felt like he was starved for affection. He could actually be moved by such a tiny, simple gesture from someone else.

……

That night.

Just after nine, Lin Zishen hurried out of the classroom and sneaked over to the teachers’ dorm.

The male and female teachers’ dorms at Senior High School were separate and in different areas. The male teachers’ dorm was by the track field, while the female teachers’ dorm was by the old basketball court.

Meanwhile.

Since ninety percent of the school’s female teachers were married, the teachers’ dorm had gradually become a place for afternoon naps. By nighttime, it was practically empty.

The whole building housed only a few retired teachers and one trainee teacher, Ling Ling.

At around 9:15.

Ling Ling finally saw Lin Zishen sneak into her dorm room. She’d already bought several bottles of beer and some stir-fried food. The beer was still cold, and the food was still hot.

Perfect.

She teased him, saying, “Lin Zishen, it’s definitely not right for a teacher to invite you over for drinks… but you don’t have to make it look like you’re sneaking around to have an affair.”

At that, Lin Zishen nearly tripped over his own feet.

He complained, “Teacher Ling Ling, could you stop being so scandalous!? And…”

“And what?”

Lin Zishen didn’t answer. He looked around again, a little surprised—he really hadn’t known Teacher Ling Ling lived alone. He’d thought she had a fellow trainee teacher for a roommate, which was why she’d dared invite him over for drinks at night.

The more he thought about it, the more helpless he felt.

When it came down to it, did this woman not see him as a man, or did she underestimate her own charm?

Come to think of it.

It was already mid-January, the heart of winter, and the weather was cold.

Since the dorm had no heating, Teacher Ling Ling seemed to have just taken a shower and changed into winter silk pajamas. They weren’t revealing, but a hazy, unusual fragrance clung to her from head to toe, tempting enough to make it easy to do something regrettable.

And with the cold weather and the room sealed up, Teacher Ling Ling’s fragrance filled the whole place.

Lin Zishen quietly swallowed. Maybe it was the stuffy air, but his heart was racing. He hurriedly sat down and took an impatient gulp of ice-cold beer.

He explained, “It’s nothing. I was just saying it’s really stuffy and hot in here.”

“There’s nothing I can do about the stuffiness. If I open the door or windows, we’ll freeze. The forecast says it’ll be only 10°C tonight.”

Ling Ling herself hadn’t given it much thought, and she had no idea what was going through the boy’s mind. She really was just a drinking enthusiast who wanted some company. Since it wasn’t Friday, she’d asked Lin Zishen to come over to the teachers’ dorm.

She trusted Lin Zishen’s character. Other male teachers were out of the question—especially He Guangming. He always seemed like such a lecher.

Oh, right.

She’d also recently heard something. Back when Lin Zishen was in his first year of high school, He Guangming had caught him cheating on an exam. What a jerk! Her sweet little Lin Zishen was so well-behaved—how could he possibly cheat!?

At that thought.

Ling Ling sat in the chair beside Lin Zishen, took a big bite of the stir-fried rice noodles, and said with her mouth full of grease, “Lin Zishen, let me tell you—if I’d come to your school a year earlier, He Guangming would probably already be dead!”

“Huh…?” Lin Zishen stared at her, baffled.

Ling Ling didn’t bother explaining. She just drank her beer with gusto.

Looking at the beautiful teacher beside him, Lin Zishen teased, “Teacher Ling Ling, you seem so genuine. Not fake at all.”

“Then you’ve got it wrong. When it comes to someone I like, I’m awkward and terribly reserved. I can never bring myself to say the words ‘I like you’… But with a little brat like you, I can be myself.”

Years later.

Only then did Ling Ling realize that what she’d said had been a flag…